Proverbs 1:30 (Mini Sermon)

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30. Pro 1:30 - "They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof." A. The LORD continues His explanation of why judgment has come on the fools to whom He gave ample opportunity to turn from their folly and hearken to His call of repentance. i. The reason destruction came is the same reason that God had previously given: they would none of wisdom's counsel and they despised all her reproof (Pro 1:25 c/w Pro 1:30). ii. God shows Himself wise and heads off any objection that might be raised against Him by reminding the foolish that they were made aware of the consequences of their sin long before calamity befell them and are therefore without excuse. B. By comparing verse 25 with verse 30, we see that the simple ones both despised and rejected the LORD's counsel and reproof. i. Recall from the notes on verse 25 that to set at nought means to despise, and would means to desire or want. ii. In the former verse they despised wisdom's counsel and desired not her reproof; in the latter they despised her reproof and wanted none of her counsel. iii. It is fitting that wisdom's words were despised and rejected given that the embodiment of wisdom, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom is hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col 2:3), was "despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief" (Isa 53:3). iv. Whereas natural men despise and reject the wisdom of God (both the concept and the Person), Wisdom's obedient children neither despise nor reject the Lord Jesus Christ, nor His ministers which proclaim Him and His wisdom (Gal 4:14). C. There is a direct correlation between not receiving God's words and rejecting God Himself. i. God regards His word above even His very name (Psa 138:2). ii. Therefore, when a man rejects the counsel and reproof of the LORD's word, he rejects God Himself (Psa 81:11). D. The same is true of men who reject God's word when declared by a prophet of old or a preacher today. i. Those that despise the rebuke of the word of God despise not the man who preaches it, but the God who bid him to do so (1Th 4:7-8; Luk 10:16). ii. Those who despise the reproof and counsel of the word of God when it is declared to them best beware. iii. They are treading the same path as the fools in Proverbs 1. iv. They will meet the same fate as they did by eating of the fruit of their own way, being filled with their own devices, and ultimately being destroyed thereby (Pro 1:31-32). v. "Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way: and he that hateth reproof shall die" (Pro 15:10).